Blogs

NASA will fly two astronaut test pilots aboard the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission to the International Space Station, where they will live and work off the Earth for about two weeks. CFT commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore, whom NASA assigned to the prime crew in October 2020, will join NASA astronaut Suni Williams, who will …

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope team continues to work its way through the 17 science instrument modes. This week they checked off numbers (5) NIRCam grism time series and (4) imaging time series, both used to study exoplanets and other time-variable sources; (12) NIRISS aperture masking interferometry mode, for direct detection of a faint object …

The International Space Station hummed with research activity today as the Expedition 67 crew members continued exploring how microgravity affects the human body. The orbital residents also tested ways autonomous robots can assist astronauts and researched how fuel behaves in the weightless environment of space. NASA Flight Engineer Bob Hines worked throughout Wednesday processing blood …

Payloads: Actiwatch: Eight Actiwatches were setup on Human Resource Facility 2 (HRF2) rack for battery charge and data downlinks. The Actiwatch is a waterproof, non-intrusive, sleep-wake activity monitor worn on the wrist of a crewmember and contains a miniature uniaxial accelerometer that produces a signal as the subject moves. The data is stored in non-volatile …

Payloads: BioLab: A health check was performed on the Biolab Glovebox. The Biological Experiment Laboratory in Columbus (BioLab) is a multiuser research facility located in the European Columbus laboratory. The facility is used to perform space biology experiments on microorganisms, cells, tissue cultures, small plants, and small invertebrates. BioLab allows scientists to gain a better …

NASA, Rocket Lab, and Advanced Space are currently targeting no earlier than June 25, 2022, for the launch of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 (LC-1) on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand. Learn more about this ambitious mission flying a new path to the Moon.

All seven Expedition 67 crew members are enjoying a quiet Monday on station as the four astronauts and three cosmonauts relaxed for a three-day weekend. However, science is always ongoing on the International Space Station as researchers continuously explore how to stay healthy and work effectively in microgravity. The septet will get back to a …

While teams continue to prepare for the next wet dress rehearsal attempt ahead of Artemis I, engineers and technicians are making headway preparing for future Artemis missions with astronauts. The Orion spacecraft for Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission, was powered on for the first time by technicians in the Neil Armstrong Operations and …

After a nominal first stage flight, the upper stage of the rocket shut down early and failed to deliver the TROPICS CubeSats to orbit. NASA’s Launch Services Program, who managed the launch service for the mission, continues to work with emerging launch providers to deliver low-cost science missions into orbit through contracts that align with …